5 SEO Mistakes Your Business is Probably Making and How to Avoid Them

The fundamentals of search engine optimisation (SEO) haven’t changed much over the years. A website’s content still requires constant attention to continue generating traffic and it is not actually that difficult to get the basics right. Unfortunately for many businesses though, that is exactly where things start going wrong.

Below we list five of the most common SEO mistakes that businesses make which cost them leads and sales. Stop making these mistakes and your business will quickly benefit from an SEO boost.

Creating Content Only for Search Engines

Once upon a time, “writing for SEO” often meant, including elements such as keyword stuffing, basically writing for search engines first and for customers second. Yet leaning on practices that were once trusted years but that could now get your site penalised.

The best website content will always be original copy that is both well-written and relevant, and created for the customer first. It can be targeted on a particular product, issue, trending topic and still needs to include technical elements such as multiple keyword phrase and well-chosen title tags, but your content always needs to be something with a hook that is worth reading that ultimately solves the searchers query.

Think about what a customer of your business might enjoy or appreciate when creating content for your website and what questions they may be asking. If it is interesting and relevant, and best of all helpful, then the content stands a much better chance of providing a strong user experience for those who arrive on those pages as well as ranking in the SERPS.

Failing to Maximise On-Page SEO

A lot of businesses simply don’t maximise their on-page SEO potential. Just having a few keywords or phrases included in the text is not enough to maximise the potential of the content to drive traffic to the website. You need optimised titles and body content as well as headline tags, proper URL structures, reader optimised meta descriptions, internal and external links and alt image attributes to name some of the most important ones. These are all important parts of the overall on-page SEO strategy of content pages.

Fully optimising your website for SEO usually requires both text and HTML changes and this can be a complex process, so it is always best to contact a professional if you are unsure.

Neglecting Local Search SEO

Google prioritises local search terms and keywords over global ones when they are included in both a customer’s search and the content of your website, so local search SEO is especially important for small business owners.

Top tips include using plenty of region-specific terms to jump the queue when it comes to local searches and ensuring you claim and verify your business’ “Google My Business.” This will help to increase your chances of appearing within local search elements such as Google Maps as well as improving your organic rankings in general.

Not Linking and Back-Linking

Off-site SEO also consists of linking to other websites and getting other websites to link to you. The biggest error businesses make here is to include lots of links but to unreliable sources. Quantity does not beat quality in this case, so it is much better to focus on the quality of the links included in your content and make sure they are all reliable and credible sources.

Linking back to your website is also a good idea, especially when it is related or relevant to the content. For example, content on the subject of business-based SEO mistakes will benefit from back-linking to a previous blog article about how to choose the best SEO freelancer.

Optimising Only for Desktop Screens

One of the biggest mistakes a business can make these days is not optimising their landing pages for people searching via smartphones. Browsing the internet via a smartphone or tablet overtook desktop browsing a couple of years ago, so make sure all relevant information such as how to contact your business, how to buy a product or order a service is easily seen when someone clicks through on a phone or tablet.

Without optimising for a mobile device, you are making the majority of your potential customers jump through hoops before they do business with you, which is not a good look.

All of the elements mentioned above draw on the same idea. Your content needs to create a good user experience for the person visiting your website. The more usable a page is from both a technical “on-page” and an “off page” perspective, the better your SEO.

If you require any more information about on-page SEO, link building or any other digital content marketing strategy, contact Float Digital via the contact page, email hello@float-digital.com or call 020 8798 0576.